Shattered Innocence
by The Forgotten Muse
Summary: This takes place after events in Kingdom Hearts 2. When Roxas and Axel rejoin Organization XIII under new management and start to get new recruits, what lies in store for Sora? And what happens to all the other worlds?
1. Rebirth!

_Thinking of you, wherever you are. We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend. Now I will step forward to realize this wish. And who knows: Starting a new journey may not be so hard, or maybe it has already begun. There are many worlds, but they share the same sky---One sky, one destiny..._

The words echoed in his mind as he lay in bed, with a hopeless case of insomnia. "Why...why can't I remember..." he whispered to himself in the night with a hint of anger. He rolled over in bed and looked at his clock. 4 AM. He should've been asleep by now. But he wasn't. Who was that speaking in his mind? The eerie feel of losing himself was on the edge of his mind, and he shivered at the thought. He had lost himself once before, when he met Sora. But now...Merlin and Leon had found a way to extract the Nobody out of someone without turning their former self into a Heartless.

He rolled over again, and his eyes were deep in thought. All he could remember was that he was Sora's Nobody, and also one of the Chosen. But chosen by what? He couldn't remember, as hard as he had tried. Right now, he was once again back in the Thirteenth Order with his best friend, Axel. However, now they had a new 'Superior'. He had arrived before Roxas rejoined. His name was Xurik. He had silver hair, and had silver eyes. His element was Darkness and he wields a sword shaped like a bat's wing.

Roxas, now wide awake thinking of what he will do to recruit new members tomorrow, was now sitting at the edge of the bed. Him, Axel, and Xurik were now the only members of the Organization. He was thinking more of _who_ to recruit more than how to. He ran through his mind everyone he remembered from his past life: Hayner, Pence, Olette, Goofy, Donald, King Mickey, Namine, Pete, Leon, Merlin, Yuffie, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Cid, Cloud, Sephiroth, Hercules, Auron, and Phil. The rest he couldn't remember. He plopped his head back on his pillow in disappointment and glanced at the clock again. It was now 4:30 AM. He groaned and shut his eyes tight, hoping he would at least catch an hour of sleep.

But there was something else wrong, he noticed. If he brought back 10 more members for the Order, wouldn't history just repeat itself? Or maybe it wouldn't...Maybe...Sora and his friends would help them...But then again, if Roxas and Sora met up again, Roxas would complete Sora again, and therefore not exist any longer. And he didn't even know what Xurik's plan was yet. _Could be fun...yet...I have an omnious feeling about this..._he thought to himself. Just then, Axel snuck into the room. Roxas sat up and stared at him with sleepy interest.

"Hey buddy, having insomnia again?" Axel queried with genuine concern.

"Yeah...I just have a lot on my mind..." Roxas remarked offhandedly.

"Well it's ok, you can tell me about it...what are friend for, right?"

"Well...ok..." Roxas said slowly, "You know how I'm Sora's Nobody right?"

"Yeah..." Axel replied thoughtfully.

"Well...I feel as if a part of me is missing...like...I'm incomplete...ya know?" Roxas said with anguish.

"Yeah...of course I know Roxas...that's how all Nobodies are...we're all incomplete...we're only half of the person we were..."

"But I'm different...I wasn't created by my original turning into a heartless this time...and I can feel some emotion...like depression...and a little bit of happiness..."

Axel pondered a little bit, and then responded, "Well...Yeah...but Nobodies are Nobodies, all the same...so you _are _incomplete, just not as incomplete as me and Xurik are..."

"Yeah...I guess...but..." Roxas stared at the floor and reminisced with the past.

"Hey, cheer up! At least you have a buddy like me, right? Ya know, a lot of Nobodies out there don't have any friends, so be thankful with what you have, right?" Axel said with an uplifting voice.

"Yeah..." Roxas said with depression.

"Ok well...see ya later then..." Axel sighed with disappointment. A portal appeared and Axel stepped through it and waved back at Roxas before it engulfed him and disappeared.

Roxas sighed and put his head back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling, the words still echoing in his memory. _One sky, one destiny, huh? I guess so..._ he thought bitterly in his head and then nodded off to sleep.

He awoke in the morning and slowly turned his head towards the clock. 9 AM it read. He groaned with sleepiness and then got up and yawned. He looked in a mirror and fixed his hair, then summoned a dark portal and stepped through it, with the Organization's lounge as his destination. He groggily stepped out of the portal and yawned again. He surveyed the room lazily and waved to Axel without much enthusiasm. Then he dropped himself into a chair and reclined as he read a book.

"So how'd you sleep?" Axel asked as he scooped up his cereal. Roxas's reply was a wave of his hand, indicating he slept fine. Axel knew he wasn't in his best mood so queried him no further, and instead changed the subject to the next thing on Roxas's mind,"Who're you gonna recruit?" Roxas only shrugged while Axel cursed under his breath at a failed attempt to start a conversation. He returned to his cereal and instead found a new focus; the embers in the fire place. He chuckled to himself and snapped, sending a blaze of fire into the fire place and successfully lighting it ablaze. Roxas took no notice and continued to read his book, _A Compilation of Ansem's Reports_. He was humming a song to himself. Axel soon lost interest in anything in the lounge and walked out the door. "I'm going to gather some information on who I can recruit...see ya later..." he yelled as he disappeared. Roxas mumbled a few words of good-bye and then went back to his reading. It wasn't until later that night that his attention was derailed from the reports.


	2. New Initiates

_You...you were never supposed to exist, Roxas..._

The words rang in Roxas's mind like a big church bell, blocking out all of his other thoughts. He was squirming in his bed and was sweating profoundly.

"ROXAS!!!!!! HEY ROXAS!!! WAKE UP!!!!" Axel screamed through the door. The only response was a groan from Roxas's bed.

"ROXAS!!! WAKE UP OR I'LL BURN THE PICTURE OF YOUR FRIENDS!!!!" Axel threatened.

"Don't you dare!!!" Roxas yelled as he chucked one of his keyblades and pinned Axel's hand to the wall. "Hmph..."

"Hey, hey! Don't get all pissy just because I woke you up!" Axel said innocently. Roxas walked up and took his keyblade out of the wall.

"Well _don't _wake me up then..." Roxas snorted.

Axel changed the subject. "I found 2 targets...for numbers IV and V...they're in the world of Gaia..." he said.

That grabbed Roxas's attention. "Who?"  
"Zidane and Kuja...come on! We've gotta hurry before they kill each other!!!" Axel insisted as a dark portal appeared. He grabbed Roxas's hand and stepped through it.

They entered into a forest of some kind. "Hey...where are we?" Roxas whispered to Axel. Axel shushed him and pointed through the leaves. "There they are..." he explained. Roxas watched with interest as they fought each other. One of them was light blonde and was wearing a sleeveless vest and clearly had a tail poking out from his pants. The other had purple hair and had a skirt with a top rising above her stomach and stopping a few inches below the chest. They were fighting viciously, and just as it looked as if one were to be defeated, the other turned the tables.

"Why them?" Roxas asked pathetically.

"Because...heartless are usually stronger than their original self...and look how strong they are now" Axel explained.

"Oh..."

Axel and Roxas moved closer to the battle until they were practically able to be hit by the wild blades dancing in front of them. "Wow...they're really into this, aren't they?" Roxas commented. "Yeah, but that's just how we want it...it's better that way..." Axel said as he smirked. He generated his Chakram and threw one towards Zidane. "Roxas, your keyblades!" he reminded. Roxas snapped out of his trance, generated his keyblade, and stabbed it into Kuja's heart. A faint _click_ could be heard as he did so.

Almost instantly, Zidane's and Kuja's bodies begin to rip apart in two. One side became black and their features were invisible, save the eyes, which had become glowing red embers. The other side became a mirror image of them, except their features were lighter and looked a bit more sinister. Axel snapped his fingers and their clothes were replaced with the robes customary to the Organization. "Good...good..." Axel whispered as he thought. "Ok Roxas! We're done here! All we have to do is take them back to Xurik and initiate them!" Axel said optimistically. Roxas gave a quick, determined nod and summoned up a dark portal. He picked up Zidane as Axel picked up Kuja and together they walked through the portal.

They appeared in the lab of the Organization's castle, and put them into resting pods. "Ok...we did good...but we still have 8 members to go...better find them before King Mickey finds out what we're up to again!" Axel noted. And on that note, he walked out the lab's door and disappeared. "Yeah...I guess so..." Roxas said faintly and then stepped through another dark portal into his room and collapsed onto his bed. He sighed with anguish and shut his eyes. That night, he had a peaceful sleep.


	3. Sacrifice

"I choose...this one!" the brown haired, blue eyed boy said as he picked a starfruit off of the long tree extending out and over the ocean. "It looks ripe and juicy!" he said. He stood back up and ran down to the base of the tree. "Wanna share it?" he asked the brown haired girl waiting for him. She was Kairi, Sora's girlfriend. Sora and Kairi had been going out ever since Sora had returned to the Destiny Islands a year ago.

"Ok!" She replied with her usual happy disposition. She started juggling it with the two rocks she had carried here to give Sora a boost. She dropped it mid-air and it clonked her on the head. She fell backwards and landed on her butt. "Hey! Are you ok?" Sora asked. Sora looked into Kairi's eyes and they both started giggling. "Haha! You were always kind of a goof!" Sora said as he laughed. Eventually they calmed down. The sun was coming up over the horizon and it cast an orange and red hue over all the clouds. Kairi leaned on Sora's shoulder and sighed peacefully. "Ya know...I wish Riku was here to see this..." she whispered. "Yeah..." Sora said slowly and with remorse. They stared into the sunset and waited until the stars shone brightly. Sora noticed Kairi had fallen asleep on his shoulder and cradled her head gently. He sighed peacefully and then picked her up and laid her on his back, carrying her to her house. He laid her in her bed and kissed her on the forehead. "Good night, Kairi...Sweet dreams..." he whispered sweetly as he left the room. On the way back to his house, Sora noticed a letter in a bottle resting on the beach. He picked it up and took it out of the bottle. He inspected it closely. It read _Do you remember me?_ In shiny gold letters and a neat handwriting. Sora sucked on his cheek as he thought. Then he wrote on the paper _Who are you? _and returned it in the bottle to the sea. Then he continued to his house, where he got into his sleeping clothes and nodded off to sleep.

He awoke in the morning to find Kairi knocking on his window. "Come on or else we'll be late for school!" she yelled as she rasped gruffly on the window. Sora groaned and told her that he'd be out in a minute, and he was in his school clothes. They walked to school together and talked along the way about various things. "So...did you do your homework?" Kairi asked casually. "What?!?! We had homework? CRAP!!!" Sora panicked. His face turned red as he went through his backpack to find his planner. Once in hand, he flipped to last night's date. In clear black letters it read: Write a 5 Paragraph Paper on what your favorite place to be is. Sora smacked himself on the forehead for forgetting to do it. "Look...it's just one assignment, I'm sure you'll be ok!" Kairi comforted. Sora sighed. "Yeah...I guess so..." He diverted his eyes and instead looked down to the beach. There lay a blonde girl in a white dress. Sora stared at her and recognized her but couldn't remember her name. He rubbed his eyes and looked back at that spot, but she had disappeared. "Hey...is everything ok?" Kairi asked with concern. "Y...yeah...just seeing things..." Sora replied distantly as if his mind were somewhere else. Kairi frowned but questioned no further. Then they arrived at school.

Sora stared out the window and at the beach the whole day. He wondered who that strange girl was. He wanted to remember. Yet, he wanted to forget, too.

At lunch, Sora was still spaced out. Kairi came up behind him and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. "Feeling better yet?" she asked happily. Sora nodded his head and looked up at the clouds. "Yeah...just thinking..." he said slowly. Kairi hummed a song and looked up at the clouds. "Hey...have you ever wondered what would happen if...if the darkness came again?" she asked quietly. "Yeah...I have...often..." Sora whispered. He looked at his hands, expecting the keyblade to appear. When it didn't, he sighed. Then he looked back at the clouds. "Donald...Goofy...Riku..." he said sadly. Then he sighed and put his backpack on. "I gotta go..." he explained, "Bye..." Kairi looked into his eyes and sighed. "Ok..." she said, "But visit me after school, ok?" Sora nodded his head and went to class. It was a long day, but Sora made it through.

After school, Sora walked home. He threw his backpack in a corner, and laid in his bed as he sighed. He reclined and put his arms behind his head as a makeshit pillow. He stared at the ceiling and let out a long-drawn sigh. Then he turned over and looked out his window at the beach. The image of the girl in white laying on the beach flashed into his mind. Then he turned back over and stared at the wall. Then he got up and stared at the door. He noticed a white light coming from the hall. He slowly walked towards the door. He reached out and put his hand on the doorknob. He gulped and yanked it open. The white light engulfed him and he was knocked unconcious.

When Sora awoke, he was in a white hallway with 3 pictures hanging on the wall: One of Donald, Goofy, and Mickey, one of Kairi, and one of Riku. "Sora...you must choose...what is your destiny..." a voice said. Sora gasped and turned around sharply. "Who...who are you?" he asked. "So...you really don't remember me..." The girl looked down at the floor. She was the girl Sora had seen laying on the beach. "N...no...I don't" Sora replied sadly. After a while, the girl spoke again.

"Choose...Choose your destiny..." she said omniously, "Choose the girl, and you will stay on the Destiny Islands forever, and you will never see your other friends again...Choose Riku and you will find him...and what you find you will have to live with forever...whether you want to or not..."

"Tch..."

"Choose Donald and Goofy and you will get the keyblade back, and see all the rest of your friends...but you will never be able to return...to your other friends..."

"Why would I do that!" Sora exclaimed.

"Because...a new darkness is rising, and it will destroy all the worlds if you don't do something about it..."

Sora remained silent. Then he grimaced in a painful memory. "Fine..." he finally said. He caressed all the pictures before he chose one. "Riku...Kairi...I'm..." he shed a few tears and then looked back at the girl and then back at the pictures, "I'm sorry..." he said quietly. "I choose...Donald and Goofy..."

"Very well..." she replied. The pictures of Kairi and Riku were engulfed in a yellow light and disintegrated into the air. Sora reached out his hand as if to save the pictures, but stopped half way, realizing it was useless. "You will save the worlds once more...at the price of the ones you love most..."

Sora looked solemn as he turned fully around and sadly trudged towards the girl. "Please...tell me who you are..." he begged.

"I am...Namine..." she said as she smiled sweetly.

"Namine!!!" Sora yelled. He remembered. All the pictures of Castle Oblivion flashed through his mind. He fell unconcious and hit the floor with a thud.

"Yes...your destiny is...chosen..." Namine said. Sora was engulfed in a white light and returned to his bed, and there he remained until the morning.


	4. Confrontation

Sora awoke in the morning to find a present left on his night table. It read "For a Very Special Person, From a Very Special Friend." He was confused. The wrapping paper itself was very intricate, with pine green swirls in many beautiful patterns and a lime green background. The bow was tied neatly on top, and the tag had the same handwriting as was on the message in the bottle. Sora pondered who it could've been. He left it on the table to go shower, and only opened it when he had returned, dressed, and dried his hair.

He delicately pulled one of the bow's ends, and the whole wrapping uncovered the beautiful present. It was a rectangular glass box with a polished wood case that it attached to. The casing itself was of beautiful craftsmanship and surely cost a fortune. Inside, however, was something way more valuable. It was a small, round ball. It looked as if made of crystals, and was polished so well you could see your reflection. The most interesting thing about it was that the cloudy pattern underneath seemed to move slowly across the surface.

Sora gingerly took the object out of the casing and held it to the light. An engraving of some sort was barely visible. It was too sublte to be read, but a few letters could be seen. The light piercing the ball made the dark clouds stand out from the white crystal. Sora marveled at its beauty, and put it into the case. He put in tenderly into his pocket, grabbed his backpack, and ran straight to Kairi's house, arriving a few minutes later. He knocked on her door three times before she answered the door. "Hey Sora, what's up? You forgot to visit me yesterday and--" she said, but was interrupted in the middle by Sora hugging her tightly. "Thank you for the present, Kai. Its really amazing. Where'd you find something like this?" he asked. "Huh? What gift . . .?" Kairi asked, plainly confused. "What do you mean, what gift?" Sora replied, amazed, and took out the case to show her. "Oh wow . . . that's beautiful, I could never find afford something like that. Whoever gave that to you must be very wealthy." Kairi said, entranced by the beautiful glass ball. "Hmm, I wonder who gave it to you. If its a girl, I'm jealous!" she teased. She handed the case back to Sora. "Yeah, well, I could never find someone better than you." he said, and kissed her on the cheek. He looked at the clock across the hall from the door. "Oh CRAP! Its already ten!! I need to go help Tidus and Wakka with their speech! I'll see you later, Kairi!" he said, and ran off to the beach. He never made it. Half way across the beach, a black portal opened up, and the two new Organization members stepped out and grabbed each of Sora's arms. "Hey! Put me down! What're you doing!" Sora protested. A third person stepped from the portal. It was Riku, dressed in the Organization's robes. "Silence, child. You will come with me, whether you like it or not." he said, and shot a black ball from his hand into Sora's chest. Sora instantly fell unconcious. Riku laughed menancingly, "I'll show you Namine . . . there's no such thing as destiny." and stepped through the portal, with Daxizan (Dax for short) and Jaxuk (Jax for short) following behind him.

Roxas and Axel were relaxing on top of the tower of Twilight Town, enjoying some ice cream. "So, how do you think Jax and Dax did on their first assignment for the Organization?" Axel asked. Roxas grunted. "Oh, I see. What's wrong, buddy? Didn't sleep again?" Roxas grunted again, and continued licking his ice cream. "You're so difficult sometimes, Rox--" Axel began to say, but something stopped him. A golden keyblade hit him square in the face, knocking him off the tower. "AXEL!!" Roxas yelled, and called Oblivion and Oathkeeper into being. "Who did that? Show yourself!" he called out. "Roxas! Stop the Organization!" the attacker said. It was none other than King Mickey. "NO! WE WON'T! WE'LL BECOME WHOLE WITHOUT OUR TRUE SELVES!" he said, and charged at Mickey, swinging his dual keyblades ferociously. One chakram flew towards Mickey from below, where Axel was. "Yo Roxas, I'll help from down here!" he said. Roxas heard nothing, and continued fighting with Mickey, first striking with the left blade, and then with the right in a rhythmic pattern. But just as well, Mickey was blocking them perfectly in the same pattern. Sparks flew from their keyblades each time they met. It was a sight to behold, and people were. Citizens of the town were gathering all around the battle to watch. Axel was paralyzed by awe by the way they both moved fluidly. Each swing and block was a step in a dance, and a beautiful dance it was. Back and forth, back and forth the keyblades went, sending sparks into the crowd with each hit. Neither was tiring, nor were either gaining advantage. At last, Axel broke from his trance, and sent a fireball up towards Mickey. It was in vain, as Mickey skillfully dodged the fireball and blocked both of Roxas' keyblades. "You're not half bad, for a mouse." Roxas taunted. "And you aren't half bad for a spiky headed brat and a heartless pyromaniac." he snapped back. Their blades locked, and Axel was once again entranced. Sparks continually flew from the keyblades. They both pushed, back and forth, back and forth. "You've gotten better since last time." Mickey complimented. "Heh, and you haven't." Roxas replied. The battle drew on and on, as more spectators gathered around. One in particular caught the attention of Roxas. It was Namine, standing in the crowd, drawing the battle scene. Mickey took the chance to break the lock and jab Roxas in the back of the neck with the hilt of the keyblade. "The first to lose concentration is also the first to lose the battle." Mickey said, and picked up Roxas' body. He disappeared in a flash of white, leaviing everyone confused. Axel snapped back to reality. "HEY! BRING ROXAS BACK HERE!" he yelled, but no one was there to hear it. Axel was alone again. The crowd has dispersed. And his only friend had been taken away.


	5. Captivation

_The darkness fades to light, but eventually, as is always,  
the light fades to darkness. And in the end, there is nothing;  
light and dark hold no power where there is nothing.  
_

The room was a dull blur as Sora opened his eyes. His head hurt, and his eyes stung with the fading memories of dreams. He shook his head a little bit and tried to reach to rub the grogginess from his eyes, only when he tried, he couldn't. "Huh?" he exclaimed, looking from hand to hand and then from foot to foot. He was locked in some sort of weird, elliptical machine, and both his hands and feet were bound by metal casings connected to the outer ring. He struggled to free himself, but soon gave up as he realized it was futile. A menacing laughter pierced the tranquil darkness as a shadowed shape emerged from the darkened doorway. "Just try to escape, you little whelp, but you'll never succeed. We built this contraption out of pure darkness; that means you hold no power in here." he said, and waited a while to let the facts sink into Sora before continuing. "You're going to be our new experiment, little boy, and when we're done, you won't have the slightest sliver of light in your heart!" he laughed menacingly, and then he walked away and left Sora to his lonesome. Sora groaned lightly and hung his head in shame, then tilted his head slightly upward to study the room. It was some sort of laboratory, with beakers and test tubes with liquids every color of the rainbow, and more, in them. The only exit was the way the dark figure had just gone through, and Sora shuddered to think what lay beyond it. It was hopeless; he was indefinitely trapped within this stronghold. He groaned again and drifted into another sleep spell.

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A/N: Sorry for the long wait between updates, I'm constantly busy with websites and schoolwork. I'll try to update at least twice a month from now on .


	6. Mission

_"I've been thinking about it a lot. Namine said the same thing. Roxas... you have a heart, don't you? Whereas me and Namine... We don't really have hearts, do we?"  
"I... I don't know, either. But the heart's not something you can see. I've started to wonder if it's something you can't feel, either..."_

Roxas awoke. He immediately looked around and studied his surroundings; he was in a sterile white room and, apparently, tied down to a table. Far away, he could see the sky out of a window, but he wasn't sure he wanted to: the sky was dark and cloud, with weird rips in it that would appear for only a second, then disappear, and leave the observer wondering if he only imagined it. Roxas tilted his head back and looked. He could see two figures in white robes conversing, but he wasn't sure who, or what, they were. Roxas returned the to present problem: getting out of the bed. He struggled and flexed his arms as quickly and powerfully as he could, but he only succeeded in tiring himself out. He breathed deeply to calm himself down, then started to think of other plans. He ran many ideas through his head, but none of them seemed to have a chance of allowing him to escape. He sighed sadly. Soon, the two figures finished their conversing and silently walked to the table where Roxas lay bound. "My, dear boy. Don't kill yourself trying to escape from this place. We're not hurting you, we're just . . . experimenting." Roxas stared at the figure with pure hate . . . and then another figure came into view -- it was King Mickey. Roxas stared in surprise as Mickey untied the leather straps that bound Roxas.

"King Mickey . . . . . why did you kidnap me?" Roxas inquired.

"Roxas, we need to figure out how to destroy Organization XIII again, but Sora has been kidnapped. We need you to destroy them for us . . . before they destroy the worlds again."

Then, the third figure spoke again. His voice was laced with nonchalance in a slight cold manner. "King, we cannot have the help running around telling everybody our plans."

The King sighed. "No, we can trust Roxas. He is Sora, after all."

Roxas' eyes softened. "Yeah . . . . I'll do it . . . . but what will become of Axel and Namine? They're with Organization XIII too, now . . . . "

Mickey's eyes were downcast with sorrow. "I'm sorry, but if they're with the Organization, we'll have to destroy them."

Roxas sighed sadly. "Yeah . . . I figured. So how are we going to beat the Organization, then?"

"We'll have to beat them to their targets! Now, we can only guess who they'll come after each time, but we have a pretty good idea. They'll be sending one group of two people after each target; Axel and Xurik, and Jaxuk and Daxizan. We'll need two people, but I'll be helping you. Now, since they recognize you and will try to take you back, we have to disguise you . . . but that's easy. Just wear this mask," Mickey said, and handed Roxas a white mask with yellow-orange stripes, "and they won't recognize you. Come directly back to here when you're finished -- the gummy ship is programmed on auto-pilot to come here, so just flip the auto-pilot switch."

Mickey and the other figure walked out of the room. "Oh, and be safe. We'll miss you if you die."

Roxas sat up and rubbed his wrists, then walked slowly to the door, thinking about Namine and Axel.


	7. Rain Clouds

_"We'll never be kids again, Sora. My heart has been tainted with the lust for power and the touch of darkness. I can't stay here with you and Kairi any longer."_

_

* * *

_"Riku?!"

Sora awoke. He was still in the same room, except now, the many beakers and test tubes were bubbling with strange concoctions of an unknown evil. Once again he surveyed the room. Nothing had changed other than the chemical tools. A dark rift opened in the middle of the room, twisting the apex of depth. Out stepped a black clad figure with a hood over his face.

"Sora, m'boy . . . how are you feeling?"  
"I'd feel a lot better if I wasn't here with YOU!" Sora spat, twisting both of his wrists in their iron prison.  
"That's a shame, as you won't be getting out of here for a while," the man laughed, "so get used to it."

Sora hung his head down and sighed in the face of his hopeless situation.

"Tell me, m'boy, I'd like to know . . . what do you know of the Nobodies?"  
Sora glanced up and twisted his mouth into a savage frown. "Nothing I'd like to tell _you_, you filthy excuse for human."  
The figure laughed in irony. "That is the point of a nobody, didn't you know? We are nothing but excuses for humans . . . husks left behind while a heart turns to darkness . . ."  
"That's not true!! There's still people like Namine and Axel, who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others! Their sacrifice . . . it . . . it creates something that a dirty pig like you could never have!" The boy was flaming with an angry passion, "It creates friendship, and hope! You could never have hope, because you're nothing but the husk of a pathetic man who failed where many others succeeded!"  
The phantom growled and dashed forward with the speed and agility of a cheetah and grabbed Sora's throat. "Watch your words carefully, _boy_. We nobodies have seen the horrors of non-existence, horrors which a child like yourself would fall to pieces when experienced."  
Sora spat in the man's face. "I'm not a kid anymore. When I get out of this, you're going to be the first one to go, and then the rest of this stupid organization!!!"

The man released Sora's throat and wiped the spit from his face. Sora caught a glimpse of the assailant's hair: it was long and dirty blond. "We'll see . . ." the figure said ominously, and then summoned a portal out.

"Yes, we will . . . and I'll be waiting for it." Sora vowed.


End file.
